East London Central Synagogue

In the early twentieth century, the East End was a new centre of Jewish life in England: in the compact area there was a population of around 250,000 Jews. Mostly they were Yiddish-speaking first-generation immigrants from Eastern Europe, unlike the established Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities in Britain, which in the main had come from the Low Countries. Serving this community were about 150 synagogues. As a consequence of the Second World War, which saw the East End heavily bombed, this population moved on to new Jewish centres in North and North-west London such as those in Stamford Hill, Golders Green and Hendon, and the congregations of the East End synagogues consolidated. About…

In his second volume on London, published in 1951, the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner recorded that the synagogue was built by Lewis Solomon and Son, and described it thus: "Discreet brick exterior with two tiers of windows beneath round-headed arches with stone keystones. Fine classical interior. Galleries with iron railings between Ionic columns; coved steps, framed by a Venetian arch on Doric columns. Above the Ark, scrolled pediment with tablets of the law and Lions of Judah. Panelled pews and Bimah". Lewis Solomon (1848–1928) had built several synagogues, and served as both the Federation of Synagogues' Honorary Architect and also the United Synagogue's Architect and…